W.G. v. D.S.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAII REPORTS OR THE PACIFIC REPORTER

Electronically Filed
Intermediate Court of Appeals
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
25-NOV-2025
08:26 AM
Dkt. 183 SO

NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

W.G., Plaintiff-Appellee, v.
D.S., Defendant-Appellant

APPEAL FROM THE FAMILY COURT OF THE THIRD CIRCUIT
HILO DIVISION
(CASE NO. 3DV121000235)

SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Leonard, Presiding Judge, and Wadsworth and Guidry, JJ.)

Defendant-Appellant D.S. (Mother), self-represented,
appeals from the "Order on Hearing Held on February 13, 2025"
(Custody Order) entered on February 13, 2025, by the Family Court
of the Third Circuit (Family Court).1/ Pursuant to the Custody
Order, the Family Court awarded temporary sole physical and legal
custody of the minor child T.G. (Child) to Plaintiff-Appellee
W.G. (Father).
On appeal, Mother appears to assert thirty-five points
of error, many of which are duplicative and difficult to discern.
In sum, Mother contends that the Family Court erred in entering
the Custody Order, including by failing to allow the Child to
testify, or to otherwise obtain her "consent," during custody
proceedings.
After reviewing the record on appeal and the relevant
legal authorities, and giving due consideration to the issues

1/
The Honorable Jeffrey W. Ng presided.
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raised and the arguments advanced by Mother,2/ we resolve her
contentions as follows, and vacate.

I. Background

Mother and Father were divorced pursuant to a Divorce
Decree entered on June 5, 2014. They have one child, born in
2009. Mother was awarded legal and physical custody of the
Child, and Father was awarded visitation rights.
On January 27, 2022, Mother obtained a temporary
restraining order (TRO) against Father on behalf of herself and
the Child. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the Family
Court dissolved the TRO, and Mother appealed. On appeal, this
court affirmed the Family Court's order dissolving the TRO. DS
v. WG, No. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX, 2023 WL 5037333, *1 (Haw. App.
Aug. 8, 2023) (SDO).
On August 3, 2022, Father filed a motion for post-
decree relief, requesting that he be awarded legal and physical
custody of the Child. Father alleged that "Mother has
effectively cut the Father off from having visitation and
contact," Father had not seen the Child in over six months, and
the Child was educationally neglected. The Family Court held
evidentiary hearings on Father's motion on August 24, 2023,
September 27, 2023, October 26, 2023, November 30, 2023, and
May 29, 2024.
On June 19, 2024, the Family Court issued an order
concluding that it was "in the best interests of Child that
Mother maintain sole legal and physical custody" of the Child,
and also that it was "in [the Child]'s best interests to
reestablish contact and reunify with Father." The Family Court
ordered the Child to engage in reunification therapy with an
approved therapist, and stated "[a]ny action by either party to
discourage and/or inhibit and/or to prevent the therapeutic
reunification process . . . is not in [the Child's] best
interests and may be considered a form of extremely [sic]

2/
On August 20, 2025, the appellate clerk issued a notice of default
of answering brief to Father's counsel of record. No answering brief has been
filed.

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psychological abuse." The order provided that the Child was to
have visits with Father "as therapeutically recommended."
On September 16, 2024, Father filed a motion for post-
decree relief, requesting that he be awarded temporary physical
custody, with the parties to share legal custody, on the ground
that Mother had refused to comply with the June 19, 2024 order
requiring reunification therapy. Father submitted a letter from
a reunification therapist stating that Mother first refused to
respond to the therapist's emails, then responded by stating that
she was refusing to discuss next steps in the reunification
process. On October 11, 2024, Mother submitted a motion in
response to Father's motion for post-decree relief, which argued
that the Child was opposed to, and should not be forced into,
reunification therapy with Father.3/
On October 14, 2024, the Family Court issued an order
to the Hawai#i Department of Human Services (DHS) stating that
the court was concerned about Mother's failure to comply with its
June 19, 2024 reunification order, and ordered DHS to investigate
the matter and submit a report to the court. After interviewing
Father, Mother, and the Child, and reviewing a prior Child
Welfare Services investigation, DHS filed a report on
December 16, 2024 stating that it was "unable to make
recommendations regarding reunification therapy or custody as
there are no identified safety issues present."
On January 15, 2025, the Family Court entered an order
finding that Mother's failure to comply with its June 19, 20244/
order and her stated unwillingness to comply with that order in
the future were not in the Child's best interests, and granted
Father "temporary sole legal custody on any and all matters
relating to the reunification process and therapy with the
[Child]."

3/
On December 12, 2024, Mother also filed an "(Updated) Motion to
Hear Minor,15, Does Not Consent to Reunification Therapy, HRS 577D," which
attached an alleged statement from the Child stating that she did not consent
to reunification therapy, and a letter from the Child's physician stating that
the Child informed her that she did not consent to reunification therapy.
4/
The order mistakenly identified the court order entered on
June 19, 2024, as entered on June 4, 2024.

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At a February 13, 2025 status conference, Mother again
stated her opposition to the court-ordered reunification therapy.
The Family Court entered the Custody Order, finding that Mother's
failure to comply with its prior orders regarding the Child's
reunification therapy with Father "constitute[s] extreme
psychological abuse of the . . . [C]hild." The court further
found that it was in the Child's best interest that Father be
awarded temporary sole legal and physical custody, and ordered
Mother to immediately deliver the Child to Father.
This appeal followed.

II. Discussion

The points of error (POEs) in Mother's opening brief
fail to comply with Hawai#i Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule
28(b)(4), because they are not set forth in numbered paragraphs,
do not include references to where in the record the alleged
errors occurred, and do not state where in the record Mother
objected to the alleged errors. Many of the POEs are also
difficult to discern or fail to allege a legal or factual error
by the Family Court.5/ Nevertheless, we have "consistently

5/
As best we can discern, Mother appears to contend that the Family
Court erred:
• by failing to allow the Child to testify at any of the
hearings held in the case (POEs 1, 4, 29, and 33);

• in the Custody Order, by ordering a change in custody
without an evidentiary hearing (POE 2);
• "when it decided a 'permanent plan' §587A-32, that the
[Custody Order] marked the 'Termination of [Mother]/Sole
Legal and Physical Custodial's [sic] parental rights'" (POE
3);

• by proceeding without the Child's consent to the "permanent
plan" (POE 5);
• when it refused "to admit or hear piles of *LEGALLY
ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE [sic]," without specifying the evidence
the Family Court refused to entertain (POE 6).
• "when it refuses to apply laws to our case," without
specifying the laws the court allegedly failed to apply (POE
8).
Mother's remaining points of error are either unintelligible or
fail to allege a legal or factual error by the Family Court. Rather, they
consist primarily of criticisms or negative characterizations of the purpose
or consequences of the Custody Order.

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adhered to the policy of affording litigants the opportunity 'to
have their cases heard on the merits, where possible.'" Morgan
v. Planning Dep't, Cty. of Kauai, 104 Hawai#i 173, 180-81, 86
P.3d 982, 989-90 (2004) (quoting O'Connor v. Diocese of Honolulu,
77 Hawai#i 383, 386, 885 P.2d 361, 364 (1994)).
Here, we are hindered from addressing the merits of
Mother's appeal by the Family Court's failure to enter the
requisite findings of fact and conclusions of law to enable
meaningful appellate review. Hawai#i Family Court Rules (HFCR)
Rule 52(a) (2022) provides that once a notice of appeal is filed
in a family court proceeding, the court must enter findings of
fact and conclusions of law, unless the court's written decision
contains them.6/ See DL v. CL, 146 Hawai#i 328, 338, 463 P.3d
985, 995 (2020) (stating that "[t]he plain language of HFCR Rule
52(a) . . . requires a family court to enter findings of fact and
conclusions of law after a notice of appeal is filed, unless it
has previously entered a written decision containing findings of
fact and conclusions of law.").
Here, the Custody Order states, in relevant part:

1. The Court finds that Mother's failure to comply
with the Court's prior orders (June 19, 2024, Order
Regarding Plaintiff's Motion for Post-Decree Relief Filed
August 13, 2024, [sic] as Dkt. No. 573; and January 15,
2025, Order on Hearing Held on December 10, 2024, [sic] as
Dkt. No. 632) regarding reunification between the Father and
the subject minor child constitute extreme psychological
abuse of the subject minor child.

2. The Court finds that it is in the subject minor
child's best interest that [Father], be awarded temporary
sole physical and legal custody of the . . . [Child].
3. [Mother] is ordered to deliver the child to
[Father] on February 13, 2025 . . . .

Paragraphs 1 and 2 appear to constitute the findings on which the

6/
HFCR Rule 52(a) states, in relevant part:

In all actions tried in the family court, the court may find
the facts and state its conclusions of law thereon or may
announce or write and file its decision and direct the entry
of the appropriate judgment; except upon notice of appeal
filed with the court, the court shall enter its findings of
fact and conclusions of law where none have been entered,
unless the written decision of the court contains findings
of fact and conclusions of law.
(Emphasis added.)

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Custody Order is based. No separate findings of fact and
conclusions of law were entered by the Family Court following
Mother's appeal.
In reviewing the Custody Order, we note the following
deficiencies in the court's findings. The Family Court found
that Mother's failure to comply with the reunification orders
"constitute[d] extreme psychological abuse of the subject minor
child," without describing any evidence supporting that
conclusion. The Family Court determined it was in the Child's
best interest that Father be awarded temporary sole physical and
legal custody without referring to or analyzing any of the "best
interests of the child" factors and considerations set forth in
HRS § 571-46(a). Moreover, the Custody Order failed to address
HRS § 571-46(a)(3), which states that "[i]f a child is of
sufficient age and capacity to reason, so as to form an
intelligent preference, the child's wishes as to custody shall be
considered and be given due weight by the court." Here, the
Child was over fifteen years old at the time of the February 13,
2025 Custody Order, yet the order does not address Mother's claim
that the Child did not consent to reunification therapy with
Father.
In In re Elaine Emma Short Revocable Living Tr.
Agreement Dated July 17, 1984, 147 Hawai#i 456, 465 P.3d 908
(2020), the Hawai#i Supreme Court ruled that "when the lower
court has failed to issue the requisite findings of fact to
enable meaningful appellate review, it is not the function of the
appellate court to conduct its own evidentiary analysis." Id. at
465, 465 P.3d at 912 (citing Goo v. Arakawa, 132 Hawai#i 304,
317, 321 P.3d 655, 668 (2014) and Sprint/United Mgmt. Co. v.
Mendelsohn, 552 U.S. 379, 383-84 (2008)). Here, we cannot
discern the evidence relied upon by the Family Court, or the
legal analysis it employed to make its "bests interests"
determination. Accordingly, we vacate the February 13, 2025
Custody Order. See id. at 475, 465 P.3d at 922.
For the reasons discussed above, the "Order on Hearing
Held on February 13, 2025," entered on February 13, 2025, by the
Family Court of the Third Circuit, is vacated, and the case is

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remanded for further proceedings consistent with this Summary
Disposition Order.
It is further ordered that the November 10, 2025 motion
for retention of oral argument and all other pending motions are
denied.

DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, November 25, 2025.

On the brief:
/s/ Katherine G. Leonard
D.S., Presiding Judge
Self-represented Defendant-
Appellant. /s/ Clyde J. Wadsworth
Associate Judge

/s/ Kimberly T. Guidry
Associate Judge

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